Sekvantoj

Wednesday, 23 July 2008

Unua Ministro de Orienta Belfasto?

...When First Minister Ian Paisley exited, however, Sinn Féin rightly put its foot down and demanded the implementation of the St Andrews' Agreement, including the removal of policing and justice powers from our British overlords (whose record on policing and justice in these parts won’t be hard to beat). Another key part of the St Andrews' Agreement was an Irish Language Act but rather than take steps to deliver on that pledge, successive DUP culture ministers have made their opposition to the Irish language a touchstone of their adminstrations.

In the unusual political architecture bequeathed society by the Good Friday Agreement, the DUP can only be in power with the assent of Sinn Féin. The same goes for Sinn Féin. Faced with DUP intransigence — they want their political cake from Sinn Féin and eat it without giving anything in return — the republicans have dug in…..

…Partly in jest, they refer to Peter Robinson in Stormont as “The First Minster for East Belfast” because his eye first and foremost is on his own constituency. Note that last week in the middle of this political stand-off, he still signed off on a £500m-plus investment for Bombardier, headquarterd in East Belfast….